Remembering on Thanksgiving
by NinjaChicks
Summary: Its after Jake, Tobias and Marco went in search of Az. Cassie is with her family but feels alone, she is remembering her friends. Please R


Disclaimer: I don't own the Animorphs. This is going to be a one chapter story. I wrote it because I felt I needed to do something in honor of Thanksgiving and because I've always wanted to see Cassie's reaction, so I wrote my own.  
  
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Remembering on Thanksgiving  
  
My name is Cassie, Cassie Chambers. I am the same Cassie of the Animorphs, the only survivor of that team the once numbered six. For many years an evil parasitic alien race called the Yeerks were taking over the world. That particular problem has been solved…  
  
It is Thanksgiving Day, I look around the table at my family and friends but there are five friends missing: Jake, Rachel, Tobias, Marco and Ax. Rachel died in the war against the yeerks and the others… the others… well earlier this year Jake came to me to tell me that Ax had been captured. I remember it as if it was yesterday:  
  
Jake told me that Ax had been captured I had offered to go with them but Jake shook his head. I protested, he told me I was one of the strongest people he had ever met. He looked at the ring on her finger and smiled sadly. "No you are the true survivor of this war."   
  
My eyes closed. I knew at that time there was no point in arguing. However the day Jake, Tobias, Marco, Menderash and the others boarded the ship, Rachel, named in honor of our fallen comrade. There was a strange feeling in my stomach, a sense of foreboding. It was going to be the last time I saw them. Months after they went in search of Ax, the Andalites informed me that they lost contact with The Rachel.  
  
A tear rolled down my cheek. My husband Ronnie Chambers looked at me. "Are you alright?" I nodded.  
  
Dinner was ready; it was now time for prayer. My father led it, after he finished I stood up. "I propose that this dinner be held in honor of Jake, Rachel, Tobias, Marco and Ax." I said softly, I had been thinking about my friends lately. Nobody contested it and my mother nodded thoughtfully.  
  
As my father cut the turkey I remembered the time the Animorphs were stuck in the Artic, I remember they looked to me when we were faced with food, all of them wondering if I would say something about eating the meat. I forget the exact words but I remember I basically told them that I wasn't going to go all hug a tree, nature nut on them. The tears started again. Marco often called me those names, but no longer.  
  
The knife my father used to cut the meat reminded me of Ax's tail blade, especially the way it flashed in the light. I remembered the time we first met the Andalite, we dove to the ocean to rescue him. Tobias and I were the ones who heard him…  
  
Even the turkey reminded me of Tobias, perhaps it was because it was a bird or perhaps it was because Tobias occasionally eyed the patients in the barn, the Wildlife Rehab Clinic. Thinking of that it reminded me of the skunk kits, I remember Jake getting upset at me because I took care of the kits, almost becoming a nothlit. I remember making Tobias promise not to harm the other kits.  
  
The clothing I was wearing reminded me of Rachel, I could hear her make fun of my bird-poop covered jeans. Rachel, my best friend and her cousin, Jake. I looked at my wedding ring almost guiltily; I had a crush on Jake during our times as an Animorph.   
  
I don't know how I managed through the dinner, almost everything reminded me of my friends, but during dessert I do remember that I told my self that I would go to the zoo where my mother worked and where we acquired many of our morphs. I would join the dolphins in the tank for a while, just as we forced Jake to morph into a dolphin what seems like ages ago when Marco and I figured it would be the best way to get him to lighten up.  
  
After dinner I went outside, heading to the barn.  
  
"Where are you going?" My father asked.  
  
"Out… To the zoo…" I answered as I left.  
  
Confused Ronnie said "It's closed."  
  
My mother answered. "She'll go in like she did during the war, with her friends." I imagine my mother was shaking her head with a knowing smile. While we were in the Hork-Bajir Valley I told my parents about how we acquired many of our animal morphs.  
  
I reached the barn and shed my clothing, although I hadn't morphed in a while, I am still in the habit of wearing the skin tight morphing outfit. I could hear Marco complain that we needed to get some kind of uniform. I walked out knowing the morph I was considering would be unsafe to do in the barn with all the small mammals there. I concentrated on the Great Horned Owl, and felt my arms grow. If felt as if I was falling as my body shrunk, I unconsciously controlled the morph so that after I was the size of a great horned owl, I had the head and wings of the bird but nothing else, and then I allowed my body to morph completely. I felt the owl's mind surface, it was searching for prey, but I was able to get a hold of its brain fairly quickly.  
  
I took off; I felt the night wind and was reminded of the times we flew with Tobias. I drifted along taking my time the zoo wasn't too far away. I reached the zoo in plenty of time, and demorphed near the dolphins' exhibit. I removed my watch and set it for one hour forty-five minutes because I was going to try to forget and the dolphins were so playful. I climbed up and jumped into the exhibit, starting the morph almost immediately, as I hit the water, my legs had formed into a fin and moments later I leaped in the air, fully formed as a dolphin. Although I was aware of the dolphin's mind I didn't try to push it away, I let its joy and happiness lightening my own mood. I leaped out of the water again, knowing my friends wouldn't want me to be depressed, I just wished they were here with me. I am thankful that I knew Jake, Rachel, Tobias, Marco and Ax. I thought and was answered with a happy squeal from the other dolphins. 


End file.
